Isolated thunderstorms developed across west central and central Ohio during the afternoon.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS ILN wrote it up.
Isolated thunderstorms developed across west central and central Ohio during the afternoon.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Wilmington, OH wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 2, 2:38 PM EST, 2 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH 338 PM EDT FRI MAY 2 2008 .SYNOPSIS... A COLD FRONT WILL PUSH ACROSS THE GREAT LAKES AND OHIO VALLEY REGION TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT. THIS FRONT WILL KEEP THE THREAT FOR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD INTO THE OHIO VALLEY REGION ON SUNDAY...BRINGING A RETURN TO DRY BUT COOLER WEATHER. && .NEAR TERM /UNTIL 6 PM THIS EVENING/... HAVE ISSUED ZONES FAIRLY QUICKLY THIS AFTERNOON TO ACCOUNT FOR THE SIZABLE AREA OF SHOWERS AND SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS MOVING INTO THE REGION. THIS AREA OF PCPN APPEARS TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH AN UPPER LEVEL VORT MAX AND A SUBTLE SFC TROF AXIS. WILL HAVE TO ISSUE A ZONE UPDATE AROUND 6 PM TO SEE HAVE FAR EAST THE PCPN HAS TRAVERSED AND WHETHER MORE PCPN OVER SRN INDIANA AND N CNTRL KENTUCKY HOLDS TOGETHER AS IT PUSHES NORTHEAST. && .SHORT TERM /6 PM THIS EVENING THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT/... GIVEN THE CONVECTIVE NATURE OF PCPN EXPECTED THROUGH THE SHORT TERM PERIOD...HAVE LEANED MORE ON THE OPERATIONAL NAM-WRF AND SREF MEANS. A COLD FRONT EXTENDED FROM SE IOWA SOUTHWARD TO JUST WEST OF THE MIDDLE MS VLY REGION THIS AFTERNOON. THIS FRONT IS EXPECTED TO REACH A CENTRAL MICHIGAN TO CENTRAL INDIANA POSITION BY 12Z SATURDAY...AND THEN SLOWLY TRAVERSE THE REGION THROUGH SATURDAY EVENING. MODELS CONTINUE TO INDICATE 925 MB-850 MB LOW LVL CONVERGENCE OUT AHEAD OF THE SFC FRONT FOR LATE TONIGHT INTO SATURDAY MORNING. ALSO...THIS CONVERGENCE IS EXPECTED TO BE SUPPLEMENTED BY UPR DIVERGENCE ROTATING NORTHWARD ACRS THE WESTERN GREAT LAKES IN ASSOCIATION WITH AN UPR LVL LOW. AS A RESULT...HAVE MAINTAINED CATEGORICAL POPS ACRS THE FCST AREA FOR LATE TONIGHT INTO SATURDAY MORNING. SPC CONTINUES TO KEEP THE WRN HALF OF OUR FCST AREA IN A SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS FOR LATE TONIGHT. THE CHC/S FOR SEVERE WILL DEPENDENT ON HOW MUCH INSTABILITY CAN HOLD TOGETHER AS LINE OF CONVECTION REACHES OUR FCST AREA. IF LINE ARRIVES EARLY ENOUGH...THEN SOME DAMAGING WINDS MAY BE POSSIBLE. OTHERWISE...CONVECTION MAY COME THROUGH THE REGION WITHOUT ANY PROBLEMS. WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR MESOSCALE AND MODEL TRENDS. OTHERWISE...AM EXPECTING BULK OF PCPN TO MOVE OFF TO THE EAST BY SATURDAY AFTERNOON. THEN...ATTENTION TURNS TOWARD THE COLD FRONT. IF THE ATMOSPHERE CAN DESTABILIZE ENOUGH AFTER BEING WORKED OVER FROM MORING CONVECTION...THEN SOME SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL LIKELY DEVELOP. HAVE CONTINUED A 30 TO 40 POP DURING THE AFTERNOON HOURS FOR THIS POSSIBILITY. BY SATURDAY EVENING...WITH THE LOSS OF DAYTIME HEATING...ANY CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY WILL DIMINISH AND/OR MOVE OFF TO THE EAST ALONG THE COLD FRONT. ENTIRE FCST AREA IS EXPECTED TO BE DRY BY MIDNIGHT. SFC HIGH PRESSURE WILL THEN BEGIN TO BUILD INTO THE REGION AFTER MIDNIGHT. AS FOR TEMPERATURES...THEY WILL BE A LITTLE TRICKY ON SATURDAY DUE CLOUDS AND ANY POSSIBLE INSOLATION BETWEEN CONVECTIVE EVENTS. HAVE RANGED TEMPERATURES FROM THE MID 60S NW TO THE LOWER 70S SE. MUCH COOLER TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED BY SUNDAY MORNING WITH LOWS RANGING FROM THE LOWER TO MID 40S. && .LONG TERM /SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY/... MODEL CONSENSUS FAVORING A WEAKER AND CONSEQUENTLY MORE PROGRESSIVE UPR TROF AXIS CROSSING THE ERN GRT LKS SUN MRNG. AT THE SFC...HI PRES EXPANDING INTO THE REGION A LITTLE FASTER THRU THE DAY SUNDAY. GFS/NAM BOTH CONTINUE TO INDICATE A LO LVL THERMAL TROF LAGGING ACRS FCST AREA SUNDAY IN CAA REGIME...BUT GENERALLY WEAKER WITH THIS FEATURE THAN PREV RUNS HAD INDICATED. HAVE THEREFORE CUT BACK ON CU FIELD A BIT FOR SUNDAY AND ALLOWED FOR A BIT MORE SUNSHINE AND SLIGHTLY WARMER TEMPS THAN PREV FCST. APPEARS IDEAL RADIATIONAL COOLING SETUP SUN NIGHT WITH CLR SKIES AND LGT WINDS UNDER CENTER OF HI PRES. TEMPS LIKELY TO BOTTOM OUT IN THE U30S/L40S ON MON MRNG. FIRST HALF OF THE WORKWEEK WILL BE HIGHLIGHTED BY SFC HI PRES AND MEAN NORTHWEST FLO ALOFT AS DEEP UPR LO SPINS ACRS JAMES BAY REGION OF CANADA. SVRL WEAK MID LVL DISTURBANCES WILL RIDE AROUND THE BASE OF THE MEAN TROF AND PASS THRU THE GRT LKS AND INTO NEW ENGLAND. ONE OF THESE DISTURBANCES WILL DROP ACRS THIS AREA LATE MON NIGHT AND TUES REFLECTED BY A WEAK COLD FRONT AT THE SFC. BOTH 12Z GFS/NAM SOLNS ARE MORE AMPLIFIED AND FURTHER SOUTH WITH AFOREMENTIONED UPR LO AND CONSEQUENTLY STRONGER WITH COLD FRONT AS IT DROP INTO THE ERN GRT LKS. HAVE TRENDED TOWARDS WEAKER 00Z ECMWF/HPC SOLN WHICH FAVORS A WEAKER COLD FRONT WASHING OUT JUST NORTHEAST OF REGION TUES AS IT RUNS INTO RELATIVELY DRY AIRMASS WITH LITTLE IN WAY OF AVAIL FORCING. HAVE ALSO LEANED HEAVILY TOWARDS 00Z ECMWF/HPC SOLN FOR REMAINDER OF EXTENDED WRT ENERGY BEING EJECTED NORTHEAST INTO CNTRL PLAINS FROM DEEP WRN CONUS UPR TROF BY MIDWEEK. SFC LO WILL DVLP IN THE SRN PLAINS WED AFTN AND LIFT NORTHEAST INTO THE GRT LKS BY FRI. WILL INTRODUCE CHANCE POPS LATE WED NIGHT AND PARTICULARLY INTO THURS AS WARM FRONT RISE NORTH INTO THE OH VLY. THE POSSIBILITY FOR SHRA/TSTMS WILL PERSIST INTO FRI AS REGION MOVES INTO WARM SECTOR AHEAD OF TRAILING COLD FRONT. HAVE BUMPED TEMPS UP A FEW DEG FROM PREV FCST FOR MON-WED AS APPEARS EXPANSION OF MID LVL RIDGE WILL ALLOW FOR A FASTER RECOVERY OF TEMPS TO AROUND 70 OR HIGHER FROM TUES FORWARD. && .AVIATION /19Z FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY/... AREA OF CONVECTION ASSOCIATED WITH PRE-FRONTAL TROF IS WORKING THRU INDIANA. EXPECT THIS CONVECTION TO AFFECT TAFS THRU ABOUT 00Z. THEN IT LOOKS LIKE THE FA GETS INTO A BREAK...BEFORE NEXT ROUND COMES THROUGH WITH CDFNT. HAVE THIS CONVECTION TIMED INTO THE WRN TAFS AROUND 07Z AND EXITING ERN TAFS AROUND 13Z. FOR BOTH SETS INSTABILITY AND FORCING IS THERE...SO THEY COULD PRODUCE STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. BEHIND FROPA SAT MRNG...LOOKS LIKE DRY SLOT AND SCT CLDS...BEFORE SOME WRAP AROUND MOVES IN AFTER END OF TAF PERIOD. OUTLOOK...MVFR CIGS AND VSBYS ARE POSSIBLE SATURDAY AFTN. TSTM POSSIBLE WEDNESDAY. && .ILN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... OH...NONE. KY...NONE. IN...NONE. && SYNOPSIS...HICKMAN NEAR TERM...HICKMAN SHORT TERM...HICKMAN LONG TERM...RYAN AVIATION...SITES
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH 504 AM EDT FRI MAY 2 2008 INZ050-058-059-066-073>075-080-KYZ089>100-OHZ026-034-035-042>046- 051>056-060>065-070>074-077>082-088-030915- WAYNE-FAYETTE IN-UNION IN-FRANKLIN IN-RIPLEY-DEARBORN-OHIO- SWITZERLAND-CARROLL-GALLATIN-BOONE-KENTON-CAMPBELL-OWEN-GRANT- PENDLETON-BRACKEN-ROBERTSON-MASON-LEWIS-HARDIN-MERCER-AUGLAIZE-DARKE- SHELBY-LOGAN-UNION OH-DELAWARE-MIAMI-CHAMPAIGN-CLARK-MADISON- FRANKLIN OH-LICKING-PREBLE-MONTGOMERY-GREENE-FAYETTE OH-PICKAWAY- FAIRFIELD-BUTLER-WARREN-CLINTON-ROSS-HOCKING-HAMILTON-CLERMONT-BROWN- HIGHLAND-ADAMS-PIKE-SCIOTO- 504 AM EDT FRI MAY 2 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST CENTRAL INDIANA...SOUTHEAST INDIANA...NORTHEAST KENTUCKY...NORTHERN KENTUCKY...CENTRAL OHIO...MIAMI VALLEY OF OHIO...SOUTH CENTRAL OHIO...SOUTHWEST OHIO AND WEST CENTRAL OHIO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A LINE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS IS EXPECTED TO PUSH INTO THE AREA FROM THE WEST LATE TONIGHT. A FEW OF THE THUNDERSTORMS MAY REACH SEVERE LIMITS...WITH DAMAGING WINDS BEING THE PRIMARY THREAT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.
The Cincinnati radar (KILN), 132 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:40 UTC.
4 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Several mobile homes were damaged in a trailer park. Awnings were ripped off and basketball poles and other ground fixtures were damaged. A few 2x4 wooden planks were driven into a trailer, causing one injury. Power poles and trees were also downed in the area.
Trees were downed across the county.
Numerous trees were knocked down across the county.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Ohio in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Ohio, May 2008
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 98067, 98068, 98069, 98070.